Harry Potter and The Force of Law
by snipsa
Summary: During the Summer after third year Harry decides to take Sirius' future into his own hands. He has no idea what far reaching consequences this will sow.
1. Prologue

Title: Harry Potter and the Force of Law

Summary: During the summer after third year Harry has an epiphany and decides to take his Godfather's future into his own hands. Very slight Dumbledore bashing.

Disclaimer:Harry Potter and all related characters are owned by JK Rowling. No money is being made by the writing of this fanfiction.

... ... ...

Harry Potter was lying in his bed in his room at Nr 4 Privet Drive, mind recalling all that had happened during the previous year.

He could not believe how close he had come to finally having a family, only for it to be cruelly ripped away by a foolish minister and hateful professor. You see, Harry Potter had found out that his Godfather was alive, innocent of the charges he had been sent to Azkaban for, and actually wanted Harry to stay with him. For Harry Potter there was nothing more he wanted, or needed, than a family that loved him and took care of him, as the people he stayed with at number 4 Privet Drive may have been related by blood, but there was no love in that house for the young man.

'I wish there was some way I could make the blind fools see. Make them believe the truth about Sirius, but there is no way they will believe the words of three underage wizards and a werewolf. If only Dumbledore would do something, help us in some way!' Harry had been considering the actions of his headmaster over the last week, and felt his admiration and reverence for the man slowly decreasing by the day. Dumbledore had sent him to the Dursleys and forced him to return to the place each year, he had allowed the spirit of Voldemort into the school during Harry's first year and left a dangerous artifact in a school filled with young charges.

Dumbledore had also been unable to stop the basilisk during Harry's second year and didn't do anything to stop the student population from bullying and shunning him during the whole heir of Slytherin debacle. If anything third year was the worst. Not only did the man allow soul sucking demons onto the school grounds, he didn't think it necessary to warn Harry that Sirius Black would be after him (even though the man did turn out to be innocent, Harry would have preferred a heads up) and didn't notice an illegal animagus in the school for at least six years (as Scabbers would have been at the school as Percy's pet long before Harry even knew about Hogwarts). Finally the esteemed headmaster just stood by as Snape belittled them all, and pushed the limits of his authority, not to mention his inadequate handling of the entire Sirius mess.

'I just wish I could make someone see the truth', the thought repeated yet again in his mind, however this time Harry had an epithany of sorts, he could not believe he had not thought of it before, but blamed it on lack of sleep and stress from the year's happenings.

During the year, while trying to find out about Sirius Black, Harry had learned about the DMLE as well as different means they use to gather evidence. He had meant to write to someone in the DMLE to ask about the night his parents were killed. Hoping that they might have some of his parents possessions in storage. After finding out the truth about Sirius he had forgotten about those plans, however now he knew just what to do to get his Godfather a fair and just trial.

Grabbing a quill and parchment he started writing, hope blossoming for the first time since that night his Godfather had to flee.

Finishing the letter in less than twenty minutes he reread it before rolling it up and handing it to an expectant Hedwig.

"Hedwig, please take this parchment to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I am not sure who the head of the department is, so I just addressed it to Head of the DMLE and to whom it may concern, I am sure if you drop it at the mail department they will get it to the correct person." Giving Harry a look that clearly called his intelligence into question Hedwig grudgingly took the parchment and flew through the open window. She returned within two hours sance parchment and Harry realized he would be in for a long wait. He had a feeling the DMLE may have a backlog of mail, especially with the escape of Sirius Black still hanging over their department.

It would be two long days before Harry heard back from the department, in the form of a very interesting visit. A visit that would change his life forever.

...

A/N

I realize this is not a new or unique concept, but do hope to teach an old dog a few new tricks with the writing of this fic. It is a short story, no longer than five chapters and is almost completely written. I will endeavour to upload a chapter every week. Please note English is not my first language and all mistakes are my own. Feel free to indicate these mistakes if you want and I will try to fix them if possible.


	2. Chapter 1

It was close to 9:30 AM, two days after Harry Potter had sent his missive to the DMLE that a formidable woman found herself staring at the non-descript house ahead of her. It looked markedly the same as all the surrounding buildings, with first descriptor to come to mind being: completely ordinary.

Not for the first time Amelia considered that this could all be an elaborate prank, or even something more nefarious. She wasn't taking any chances so she scanned the building for any wards or other spells she could find. What she did find was quite surprising.

"We have a strong redirection ward here - I cannot determine what it is that is being redirected just yet." This was quickly relayed to the two aurors at her sides. Affirmative nods were their only response.

"I also detect another ward, very old, seems to be blood based, but it seems quite erroded. I will contact Gringotts to send curse breakers to determine the reasons for these wards. Nothing appears malicious to us, so head forth, but be alert." Nods were once more the only response given as they stealthily made their way to the front doors. Reaching the door Amelia recalled all that had led her to that moment. It had started approximately 24 hours before.

* * *

Amelia Bones was sat behind her desk at the Ministry of Magic, browsing once more through the large stack of information regarding the escaped convict Sirius Black. Even though it was a large stack, it was filled with mostly inconsequential information. Un-corroborated sightings, pleas for him to be kissed on sight and more. As she was going through the information something kept bothering her. Something she was missing, but she just could not put her finger on it. Whilst pondering this conundrum her secretary opened the door.

"Amelia, there is a letter here relating to Sirius Black amongst others, that I think you should read." Cecilia Kramer was a no-nonsense kind of person, somebody that Amelia trusted impeccably to sift the useless from the useful, so without any questions Amelia took the offered parchment and started reading.

 _28 June 1994_

 _Harry James Potter_

 _No 4 Privet Drive, Surrey_

 _England_

 _The Department of Law Enforcement_

 _Head of the DMLE_

 _Ministry of Magic_

 _England_

 _To whom it may concern,_

 _I write this missive to inform you of a grave mis-justice done by the Ministry of Magic in 1981 and once more perpetuated at the end of my third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the year 1994._

 _I am not certain how much, if any, of this information has been shared with the department by our Minister of Magic and his advisors. I have been advised by adult wizards and my school headmaster that there is nothing that can be done to rectify this situation, however I cannot fathom how the law can fail one person so badly. It is thus my hope and strongest belief that you as the head of our law enforcement would want to have every fact (not the fictional stories that the press and government seems to be spreading) with regards to the incarceration and subsequent unlawful (I believe) imprisonment of my Godfather one Sirius Orion Black._

 _I will only attempt to impart the facts as I see and understand them._

 _During 1980 (I am uncertain whether this was before or after my birth at the end of July) my parents got word that Tom Marvolo Riddle also known as the self proclaimed "Lord Voldemort" was coming after them. The reason for his interest in our family is not known by me at this time - I was unable to get an answer on this when I asked Headmaster Dumbledore about it._

 _During this time of hiding, they decided the best method of staying safe would be for somebody to be their secret keeper. Although the person initially decided on was my godfather Sirius Black, he decided that this would be too obvious a choice, and should something happen to him, my parents and myself would be in danger. As such, together with my parents, they decided to let everyone believe that Sirius was their secret keeper, but in secret they decided to let Peter Pettigrew, another of their friends, cast the fedius charm in stead._

 _Unbeknownst to them, Peter Pettigrew was, and still remains, a Death Eater. He took the information of their location to Riddle and on 31 October 1981 he attacked. By some advanced magic that I cannot ever imagine understanding, my mother sacrificed herself and in doing so, I survived the killing curse. From what I understand Hagrid (The grounds keeper at Hogwarts - now also Care of Magical Creatures professor) arrived at my parents house. I am unsure of how he knew there had been an attack or even where the house was (my assumption is that Professor Albus Dumbledore had notification charms of some sort on the property or my parents themselves and thus sent Hagrid when these charms allerted him to a disturbance). Sirius arrived not long after Hagrid and attempted to take my baby self from Hagrid. Hagrid refused, apparently on orders of Professor Dumbledore. I was placed with my magic fearing aunt and uncle within the next 48 hours by Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. I am unsure of the legality of this placement, as I have not been able to ascertain whether my parents had a will in place. I do know that we never received any visits from muggle or magical social or child care services. From my understanding of the muggle world at least, there should have been inspections and visits, I am uncertain if these were skipped due to my irregular placement at my aunt and uncle's residence._

 _During the time I was in the care of Hagrid and the Professors, Sirius Black went searching for Peter Pettigrew. He realized that should Peter be alive and unhurt, that Peter had betrayed my parents to Riddle. He finally cornered Pettigrew on a muggle street, but before he could detain the man, Peter screamed falsehoods of Sirius' actions, cut of his finger and blew up the street behind him, killing countless muggles in doing so. He then transformed into a rat - he was an unregistered animagus, and scurried off. He spent more than 12 years living in this animagus form, staying with the unsuspecting Weasley family. Please do not blame them, they had no idea that he was anything more than a common rat. I am uncertain if any of the Weasleys, except for my friend Ron, even now realizes that the rat they thought was Scabbers was actually the murderer Peter Pettigrew._

 _With Peter scurrying off into a new life, Sirius Black was left on the street, completely distraught. He blamed himself for my parent's deaths, and was unable to form a coherent sentence upon his arrest. This right here was when the biggest mistake in justice was made. Whilst countless Death Eaters received trials and apparently pleaded not guilty due to imperius (a claim I greatly dispute) Sirius Black was thrown unceremoniously into Azkaban prison by Minister Bagnold and Bartemious Crouch. I am also unclear as to why Albus Dumbledore as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot did not demand a trial for him. He has never received a trial in the intervening 13 years before his escape from Azkaban less than a year ago._

 _This brings us to this past year. Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban when he saw a picture of the Weasley family, with a very recognizable Peter Pettigrew in the photo. Fearing for my life he escaped the prison and lived on the run, mostly in his own animagus form - I am not going to reveal this form, as I am afraid should you not believe this missive that that information would place him in even more danger. He attempted to capture Pettigrew at Hogwarts during Christmas but was unsuccessful. Towards the end of the year, we had a confrontation with Sirius at the Shrieking Shack on Hogwarts grounds. During this confrontation Pettigrew was revealed and he confessed to all the crimes mentioned herein. Peter unfortunately managed to escape due to confusion during a werewolf transformation - names withheld for persons' involved safety. We told Minister Fudge the basics of what is written here, but he refused to believe us, and ordered Sirius to be kissed on sight. It became clear that we would not be believed and as such we assisted Sirius in escaping from the school. I will take any punishment you deem necessary for aiding and abetting, but please take into consideration all that came before this breach of the law._

 _I truly hope and believe that as an enforcer of the law it is your duty to see justice be done. I am not certain if my testimony would be enough to see justice done, but will offer any oath necessary and give any memory you deem needed - as I understand from some research that you are able to view memories during a trial._

 _Please feel free to contact me should you require any more information, if you need to see me, my address is at the top of this letter. Please note that I stay in muggle Surrey and my guardians are not comfortable with the magical world, as such I kindly request, if possible, that you dress in muggle clothing when you come to speak with me._

 _My thanks in advance for your assistance in this matter._

 _Harry James Potter_

* * *

Amelia had reread the letter three times to ensure she understood the bulk of it. There was so much information given in that one missive, she knew should half of it be true, that justice had not only failed a young man more than thirteen years before, but also a baby that had apparently turned into a remarkable young boy should this letter be believed.

Amelia did not immediately run out to see the child. Upon ensuring she understood the letter and its content, she initially had an aid search for any and all trial records of one Sirius Orion Black, whilst another was sent to the department of child care and welfare to determine whether a will was in place for young Harry Potter.

What she received from them shook her to her core. There was no trial records for Sirius Orion Black, just as the letter implied, and it appeared that James Potter's will had been sealed immediately after their deaths. It would take some investigation to determine who had sealed it and for what purpose.

As head of the DMLE she had the authority to unseal any document in the ministry (outside of those held in the DOM) and as such she immediately applied said authority to unseal the will.

It was the reading of said will that left her breathless. For had that will, witnessed by Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom, not been sealed immediately after the Potter's deaths a number of injustices could have been prevented. It was thus with the knowledge of said will as well as the certainty that Sirius Black had not received a trial, that Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE, flanked by two of her best aurors, were standing on the doorstep of the young boy-who-lived, ready to change his life, as well as the future of the wizarding world (although they could not know that), by simply listening to and assisting a young man that had never truly been listened to before that day.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to each and everyone for the overwhelming support this fic has received. I appreciate every view, review, favorite and follow. I do not believe all updates will be this quick but wanted to reward you for the support.


	3. Chapter 2

Harry Potter was busy making breakfast for his overweight cousin and aunt (his uncle had left for work an hour earlier, after enjoying a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast made by his brat nephew) when his cooking was disturbed by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Not even waiting to hear his aunt's admonishment to "check the door freak!" he quickly switched of the stove plates and wiped his hands on a dish cloth. Heading to the door he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the hallway mirror. He looked drained and pale, apparently not yet fully recovered from his close encounter with hundreds of dementors at the end of his school year.

Opening the door he was greeted by three people, two dressed in muggle police uniforms and the lady in the middle in a fancy suit. Immediately worried that something may have happened with his uncle he quickly invited them in.

"Uhm, please come in officers. I will just go call my aunt." But before he could do as he promised the lady in the middle spoke firmly.

"Please do mister Potter. I am sure she would need to hear what we discuss. It will be best to have your guardian with you." Now gawking at the three officers in front of him, Harry tried to figure out what was happening. How did these three muggle officers know his name?

"I am sorry, how do you know my name?" He all but whispered. The lady in the middle looked at him strangely, before seeming to realize something.

"Oh mister Potter, my apologies. I should have introduced myself. You wrote to me a couple of days ago and asked that we must visit you in muggle attire. My name is Amelia Bones, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This lady on my left is Auror Cynthia Jones and on my right is Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. We have come to discuss the claims you made in the letter that was sent to us." Gobsmacked, Harry could only stare at the three people in front of him. He had never seen magical people blend in so perfectly in the muggle world. Then again, it should not have come as a surprise, as he was certain that their department was probably the one that had to most often work with muggle counterparts.

Before be could respond he heard his aunt's voice yelling from the sitting room. "Who was at the door, freak?!"

"Just a salesman, aunt Petunia!" He quickly replied. Quieter now he asked the three people stood on his doorstep to enter as quickly and quietly as possible. He told them where his room was and asked if they would mind terribly to wait a short while for him, he would be there as soon as possible. "I must just finish their breakfast quickly. I can get my chore list from aunt Petunia when we are done." He finished in explanation before heading to the kitchen to finish the meal he had started earlier. Hoping that the magical law enforcement officers would not be too mad at him for making them wait, he quickly finished up the meal, before grabbing a service platter and making some tea. Hopefully that would be enough to tide his visitors over. He placed the tea server in the hallway where he knew his aunt would not pass, before calling his aunt and cousin to the kitchen for breakfast.

He mumbled that he would be busy in his room with assignments and would do his chores in about and hour's time before quickly leaving the kitchen and heading up the stairs, tea server in hand.

Opening the door he found the three magical law enforcement agents in various positions around his room. Amelia was seated on his bed, a frown marring her middle-aged face. Auror Jones stood in the corner of the room, seemingly investigating the bars on his bedroom window. Auror Shacklebolt was busy investigating the catflap on his door and the locking mechanisms on the outside of the door.

"Uhm, my apologies for making you wait. You see, my aunt is not very... comfortable around magic and the Wizarding world, I do not think she would allow us to have this meeting if she knew about it." By the end of the explanation he was looking down at his shoes, and as such was quite startled when he felt a hand lifting up his chin. Looking up he could see the worried gaze of Amelia Bones seemingly staring into his soul.

"Mr Potter, we need to get to the substance of the letter you sent us, but I believe I speak for all of us when I say that I am appalled at all I have witnessed here today." She had a fierce look on her face as these words were spoken. Worried that he had now completely ruined any chance of seeing his Godfather freed Harry looked down again, before he felt a single tear roll down his cheek. Stealing himself once more, he looked into the fierce eyes of the woman before him as he spoke.

"My apologies madame. I realize that having you wait, as well as meeting in this room is an affront to your station. If there was any way I could meet you at the ministry I would do so, however I have very little means of getting to London and my guardians would not agree to take me. I ask that you please forgive me for this slight and not hold it against my godfather." With some effort he was able to maintain eye contact throughout that desperate plea, and was surprised by the different emotions he could see in the Director's eyes as he spoke. He could see the Director take a deep breath before she replied.

"That is not what I meant mister Potter. I am appalled at the way your aunt speaks to you, as well as the state of this room. Tell me mister Potter, why are there bars on your window? I did not see any bars on the windows at the front of your home, and as such cannot think that it is for crime prevention? Also, why would anybody need so many locks on the outside of the door, and I did not see any animals besides your lovely owl, so cannot imagine why you would need a flap such as that on your door? What is going on inside this house mister Potter?"

By the end of her diatribe Harry's face had turned ashen. He had not imagined that bringing investigators into his home could lead to so many questions. How could he answer the questions without looking weak and pitiful in their eyes.

"Well, you see, my aunt doesn't really like me much, but she doesn't mean I am a freak. It is just like a pet name of sorts." He would not let them know that he had not known his own name until he started school at age six. That he had believed he was called Boy and Freak before finding out his name at school.

"I do not know about the bars, they were there when I got home at the end of first year, and the locks are just to keep any magical things locked away when I am not here... That is all." Harry could see they did not fully believe him, but was thankful when Amelia decided to drop the topic.

"We will return to those questions later mister Potter, I can see you are not truthful, however as I have shown you no reason to trust me as yet I hope you will be more truthful once we know each other a bit better. Onto the matters you raised in your letter. It would be prudent to have a guardian with you, but as I can see your aunt would not approve, and as the question of who your magical guardian is, is one of the matters we must discuss I will stand in loco parentis at this point in time. It is not a common phenomenon, but when guardians are being investigated it is quite often necessary for a law enforcement officer to stand in their stead during the investigation.

Now, I have no qualms in saying mister Potter, that your missive raised a lot of questions. Questions that I have not yet been able to get answered satisfactorily. You raised many points that my department was completely unaware of. Now firstly, I would like to make it clear that I do believe you. Your conduct thus far has been clear and precise. I will however need memories of everything you witnessed to be able to fully investigate your claims, and will need you to be ready to testify to the validity of these memories when the time comes.

Would it be fine with you if we discuss the different matters you brought to our attention now? I will talk you through the method of giving memories when we have finished our discussion, so that I can watch these as soon as we are done."

Harry could not believe what he was hearing. Not only did Director Bones believe him, she was going to investigate his claims. She was going to help!

"Of course Director. What ever you need!"

"First I need you to explain how you know the Dark Lord's real name. I know for a fact that is something my department researched before his defeat at your hands, and we were never able to get any substantiated information on his birth name." This was the one part of the letter that she had been unable to corroborate or get any further details on, and could not understand how a muggle raised teenager could have come by such information. His answer shocked her to the core, and made her doubt his sanity for a while.

"Oh, Voldemort told me himself, at the end of second year." Was his short and snappy reply. Glancing at her fellow aurors, Amelia could see she was not the only one doubting the young Potter's sanity.

"Excuse me? He told you so? In second year? Mr Potter, Voldemort is dead. You defeated him more than a decade ago!" Harry could see the woman had no idea what he was talking about, and realized he would have to explain fast, before they decided to stow him away in the same ward as Lockhart.

"How much did you hear about the Chamber of Secrets?" Once again, that was not the answer Amelia was expecting. A quick glance to either side showed her that her colleagues were as surprised by the seeming non-sequitur.

"The mythical chamber of Slytherin? The one that was supposedly opened a few decades ago? That one?" Shocked, Harry looked at the woman. He could not believe she had not heard about the opening in his second year.

"Uhm... Madame Bones, it is not a mythical chamber. It is real, and had been opened during my second year at Hogwarts." Amelia could only stare at the boy in front of her. She had heard rumours of course, and her niece had even mentioned something to that effect over Christmas in her second year, but the school board and Dumbledore had all declared that it had been a misunderstanding. A prank gone wrong. What had been kept from her and her department?

"How do you know of this Mr Potter. I had been reassured by numerous people that the chamber was not opened. They assured me that it was all just a big hoax." Harry could only stare at the woman in front of him in abject shock and confusion. He knew when she said people had assured her of such that one such person would have been Dumbledore. Why would the man lie about such a dangerous thing?

"I do not know who gave you such reassurance Madame Bones, although I have my suspicions, but I promise you, and will give you a vow to such effect if that should be required, that the chamber had been opened, and Slytherin's monster had been loose for that year."

Amelia could see the sincerity in the boy's eyes as well as the fear that he would not be believed.

"I believe you mister Potter, I may require more memories than I initially anticipated, but I believe you."

His gratitude was palpable, and he thus continued with a little more confidence.

"During my second year of Hogwarts, the school was terrorized by an unknown monster. Something that seemed to petrify anything that came in its sight. During that year almost the entire school believed that I was the one to have opened the chamber and was thus the heir of Slytherin. They believed this because they found out that I was a parcelmouth, and as such I was the most likely to be the supposed heir. None of the Professors stepped in as the entire school shunned me and called me names. It was like being back in primary school but amplified to the maximum. All the kids bullied me and called me names, nobody stood up for me, besides a few of my closest friends." Amelia could see the young boy still had a lot of pain and unresolved feelings about the situation. She was not certain how much bullying had gone on, but she was fairly certain she had yet another thing to raise with Hogwarts staff when she finally sat down with them to discuss the entire mess. Dumbledore in particular had a lot to answer for.

"By the end of the school year one of my best friends had also been petrified. By that time the student population had started to back off, not believing I would hurt my friend like that. Then one day we got the news. My other friend's sister had been taken into the chamber by unknown means. Desperate to save her we found the entrance and due to a failed memory charm from Professor Lockhart, Ron could not continue on with me into the chamber as the entrance had collapsed. Continuing on, I found Ginny and the spirit of Tom Riddle. It turned out that Ginny had been writing in an enchanted (more like cursed to my mind) diary during that year, and that the spirit of the person that created that diary had possessed her and opened the chamber.

Tom Marvolo Riddle was the original owner of that diary, and he was the one that possessed little Ginny Weasley. Apparently Lucius Malfoy had thrown the diary into her schoolbag at the start of the school year, without anybody noticing.

I know this all sounds confusing, it is just a bit of a jumble in my mind, so many things happened in that chamber that day." Amelia wanted to wrap the young man in a hug when he said that, his terror and confusion was clear to see. She had the distinct feeling that he had never had the opportunity to voice all that had happened in the chamber. If that was the case there would be hell to pay, as even with only hearing half of what had happened it was clear this young man, and miss Weasley for that matter, should have received counseling as soon as they exited that chamber. It should never have been swept under a rug!

"Where was I, oh yes, I had found Ginny and the spirit of Tom. He told me that he was Lord Voldemort (it is actually an anagram, as you will see in my memory). He planned to use Ginny's lifeforce to assist in his ressurection. He then called upon his monster, and as such I had to run for my life and try to fight his basilisk."

"Basilisk! There was a fucking Basilisk in that school! Merlin! My little Sue was that close to a Basilisk?" Amelia knew she was raving and slightly hysterical, but finding out your niece was stuck in a castle for a year with an animal that had previously brought about the extinction of countless animals and was used to enable the genocide of entire countries, would be enough to drive anybody slightly hysterical. Jones and Kingsley looked just as horrified as she felt.

Harry didn't quite understand the level of hysteria, but did pick up on one part of her meltdown. "Sue? You know Susan Bones? She's nice. She was one of the few kids who didn't shun me." He wasn't even certain Amelia had heard him, but decided to continue with his tale.

"Fawkes, that is Headmaster Dumbledore's Phoenix, showed up and helped me by pecking out the basilisk's eyes, so it was not able to kill by sight any more. Unfortunately it could still smell me, so I had to continue to run and try to kill it, and save Ginny. I got Gryffindor's Sword from the sorting hat - Fawkes had brought it along, I am still uncertain how that had even worked - and I managed to stab the basilisk through its mouth. I was too slow to get my arm out of its mouth, so it bit me before dying."

That brought Amelia out of her thoughts immediately.

"It bit you? Mr Potter, a Basilisk bite is fatal. Are you certain it was a basilisk?" Maybe the lad had been mistaken. Maybe the students had never been in the danger she had spent the last few minutes imagining.

"It was a basilisk, and yes it did bite me. However, that was when a miracle happened and my life was saved once more. Fawkes had remained in the chamber and cried tears on the wound. These tears healed my arm and neutralized the poison. There is only a small scar left from the bite." Having said this Harry showed her his upper arm, and sure enough a small scar could be seen in the crook of his arm.

"Tom was extremely mad when he saw Fawkes' interference and I could see he was trying very hard to complete his resurrection. I still don't know why I did it, I think Fawkes may have sent a subliminal message in some way, but I grabbed the Basilisk fang and pressed it into the diary. Tom gave a massive scream and then vanished. I was able to help Ginny get out of there and we made our way to the infirmary along with Ron. That is the basic outline of how I found out that Voldemort's name is Tom Riddle. As far as I know, Dumbledore has known of that fact even before Voldemort's defeat in '81."

That was news to Amelia, and she could feel a headache starting just thinking of everything she would need to discuss with that old codger.

"So let me see if I have this straight. Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort, possessed a first year girl, opened the chamber of secrets, released a basilisk that petrified the muggleborn students, this possession was done by a diary that was slipped to the girl by Lucius Malfoy, a man whose son also goes to school in that castle, you went after Ginny Weasley when it appeared she had been kidnapped, killed the basilisk, got poisoned in the process, was saved by Phoenix tears before killing Voldemort for a second time in 12 years? Is that correct?" Just listing it as such left Amelia feeling slightly light headed. How could so much happen to one young boy? She also needed to make a mental note to have the boy checked by a healer at St Mungo's. There was no telling what effect a combination of basilisk venom and Phoenix tears could have on his system in the long term.

"That is mostly correct to my recollection, however technically it was actually the third time I had killed Voldemort, although I personally do not like to count the time when I was a baby, as that was my mother's magic that killed him."

"What?!" This time Amelia was glad that her outrage was shared by the others as well, for it was Kingsley that expressed their surprise that time.

Looking quite sheepish Harry mumbled something inaudible. "I didn't quite catch that mister Potter."

"Well, I sort of killed a Voldemort possessed professor during my first year." Amelia could only stare at the young lad in front of her. They had come to discuss his godfather's innocence and his guardianship, instead they now had a dead basilisk, possessed diary and apparently a dead possessed professor that they needed to investigate as well. It was going to be a long week.


	4. Chapter 3

"And then Voldemort's spirit left Quirrel's body and Quirrel fell to the floor dead. I killed a man when I was 11 years old and was awarded a house cup for the effort. Yay me!" The last was said with a rich amount of sarcasm. Amelia could see the boy truly felt that the man's death had been his fault - although she knew Quirrel had signed his death certificate when he made that initial contact with Voldemort, it was clear Harry still had some unresolved feelings about that incident.

"Harry, I mean Mister Potter," Amelia couldn't believe her lack of decorum, "Quirinus Quirrel was dead the moment he was possessed by Voldemort, it is a shame and loss, but it is not your fault. I will do everything in my power to ensure you receive the necessary therapy to believe that fact as well, your guardians and teachers have failed you tremendously with regards to your own health and safety. I am going to insist once this meeting is complete you accompany me to St Mungo's, I am of the belief that you require intensive physical and emotional health care intervention that has been kept from you for an as yet unexplained reason." Amelia could see the young man was considering the offer, but that something seemed to be keeping him from accepting it.

"Firstly, do feel free to call me Harry, mister Potter reminds me of school, secondly I actually agree with you, I realized this morning that I have not adequately healed from the Dementor attack, but I am afraid that Dumbledore won't allow it. He doesn't like it when I leave Privet Drive."

"Well Harry, Albus Dumbledore has no say in the matter. He is your headmaster, and has no influence on your life outside of school, or at least should have had no influence outside of school, although I can see he has been influencing your life for a very long time. This segues nicely into our next topic of discussion." Amelia took a deep breath, trying to center herself and get the meeting back on its original track.

Before she could continue there was a knock on the door. Wild-eyed and worried Harry looked at the three people in his room whilst his aunt yelled into the room.

"Why are you just lazing about boy?! I need to get to my garden club and you have a chore list a mile long. Get out here right now!"

Indicating to the other three to hide in an opposite corner Harry quickly opened the door to speak with his aunt.

"I am almost finished with this assignment aunt Petunia. I will make sure the chores are done when you get back, just leave the list on the kitchen counter."

"I will tell your uncle of this, Boy! Laying about all day while there are so much to do! Make sure you get it finished or we'll see how much of you still fit in that cupboard of yours!" Without any farewell Petunia left the house. Dudley sneaking out just after she had gone down the driveway.

"If I had any doubts about their 'tender care' before, I have none now mister Potter, but we'll return to them at a later stage." Amelia could barely keep her anger in check.

"Now onto another matter mentioned in your letter. There are no official records of your placement with your family here at Privet drive. Your last updated address was your parent's house in Godric's Hollow, no official change in address has been noted at the ministry." Harry looked at the woman pondering that information. It made sense, as he never received any social worker visits or the Wizarding equivalent of it. He wondered what his address of record was in the muggle world. There was however a couple of things that made no sense when this information was taken into consideration.

"That actually clears up a couple of questions I had, but raises a lot more..." Harry murmured to himself, but the others clearly heard him based on Amelia's response. "I have a number of questions as well Harry, but please ask me yours first, I may have the answers, or we can search for them together."

"Well, it explains why I never received any visits from social workers or from any wizards for that matter, but how did Hogwarts know where I was, to a frightening extent, to send me my admission letter, and how did the improper use of magic office monitor my house to determine there was a hover charm used here in my second year." Amelia scratched her head, pondering the questions put her way.

"I am uncertain about the Hogwarts letter, as those are sent from the castle and the school may have more updated records of your address, but what do you mean by 'to a frightening extent'?" It had been a strange turn of phrase for the older Witch and thus she wanted to learn more about that Hogwarts letter.

"Well, it was addressed to my exact, uhm, room, with some detailed description of where in the house it was located." Harry did not want to go into details of the cupboard and his formative years spent inside it.

"Ah, now I recall, I believe the letters are addressed by a self quilling spell. The Hogwarts student register can magically detect your location, as long as it is not hidden by a fedilius charm or the like." Amelia made a note to check the records at Hogwarts. She had an inkling that the address on that envelope held some key information on the young man infront of her. Harry however was very glad to hear that tidbit of information. He had always wondered if the staff had known about his living conditions and willfully ignored it. Knowing that the letter was sent by a magical book made him feel a lot better about his professor's complacency in his upbringing.

"As for your second question, the ministry does not track the house of the student to determine magic use, it tracks the wand of that student. So if you used your wand for the hover charm, they could track it to this address and thus send the letter here. Why the department did not update your home address at that point, I could only hazard a guess, but would assume that everyone just assumed your records would have been up to date at that point in time." Harry scratched his head at that as he knew that he had not used his wand to cast the hover charm. Mentioning this to Amelia she looked at him clearly intrigued.

"It wasn't me that cast the hover charm. It was the Malfoy's elf Dobby. He had been trying to get me to stay away from Hogwarts, as he knew Lucius was planning that something evil was to be unleashed at the school. I guess Dobby must have used my wand to cast the charm, I'll have to ask the little bugger when I speak with him again."

Amelia could only shake her head upon hearing more layers being added to the chamber of secrets mess. "Remind me to look into that at a later date, we should be able to have that notice expunged. If you had a magical guardian of record they would have helped you with that as soon as the incident happened."

"Now, as there were no records of change of address, I looked up your guardianship records with the ministry, and this is where things get very complicated. There are NO record of guardianship for you after your parents death. I can only hope (and assume) that your aunt and uncle have legal guardianship over you in the muggle world, but there is no official magical guardian of record for you. This is not only completely out of the ordinary, it is in fact illegal. Every child who enters the magical world at age 11 is appointed a magical guardian. In cases where the child is raised by wizards, they are the defacto wizarding guardians of record, where a child is muggle raised they are usually appointed a magical guardian as soon as they are sorted into a Hogwarts House. The Head of House takes over your magical guardianship, unless in rare occasions where another family stands champion for the student. This usually happens when a pureblood sees a lot of potential in a muggleborn and wants their family to protect that witch or wizard until his or her majority. In your case, there is no magical guardian appointed to you at the ministry. Whether this was a mixup due to everybody simply assuming that another person was your guardian or something more nefarious in nature, I cannot determine. The consequences of not having a magical guardian can be vast. In cases like your notice of underage magic use a guardian should have been notified, and could have appealed the notice. Your injuries and so-called adventures at school should also have been reported to your magical guardian. Not having a magical guardian should however work in our advantage at this point in time." Intrigued Harry gave the woman a look that indicated his need for her to continue.

"At this point in time, if you allow it, I will file forms with the ministry to appoint myself your magical guardian. As your magical guardian I will then petition the Wizengamot to investigate allegations of child endangerment by your school and professors, I will also petition to have your parents will, that had been sealed until yesterday, read and executed publicly (I will admit I have already read it, within my official capacity and we will discuss what I found in said will shortly), and may ask you to testify and stand as witness to the happenings at Hogwarts during your first three years there. As your magical guardian I will also petition that your placement here with your aunt and uncle be investigated, and should their guardianship be found wanting we will petition for you to be placed with those your parents stipulated in their will."

"There are some aspects of the will I still need to investigate, and as such I ask your patience on that matter. I will discuss the details of the will once I have ascertained all parties involved's allegiance and suitability for child care. I am certain you can extrapolate from that statement who your parents' first choice of caregiver had been." Harry did not need to ask for more information, it was clear that his parents had wanted Sirius to look after him in the event of their death.

"That brings us to the final matter of your letter, and the part that was hardest for me to believe, yet should be easiest to rectify should all be as you said. Don't get me wrong, I believe you, we must just make sure that we verify every fact before bringing your godfather's case in front of the Wizengamot. I promise you, I will do all within my power to ensure he gets a fair trial. Something that was denied him all those years ago. Now I need you to tell me in your own words everything you know about your godfather's imprisonment and all that happened after his escape. I know what you wrote, and have corroborated the facts that I could - ie. that Sirius Black did not receive a trial as well as the existence of the rat called Scabbers in the Weasley household. I will now need your verbal testimony to get the investigation fully underway."

Taking a deep breath, Harry told Amelia everything he knew about Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and the previous year at Hogwarts.

"Let me get this straight, you used a time turner to save your own life and that of Sirius Black, and during that time you not only conjured a corporeal Patronus, it was strong enough to fight back over a hundred dementors! Let me guess, once again you were not taken to St Mungo's or at the least the hospital wing, and was just sent home without a care! Have you been feeling light headed, scatter-brained, nauseous or inexplicably tired during the last week?" Growing slightly nervous Harry could only nod in answer.

"I'm going to kill that man and all his staff!" Harry could see Amelia was extremely angry on his behalf.

"Getting you to St Mungo's has just become our first priority Harry. You are most likely suffering from magical exhaustion, should it be further left untreated it may cause a slight to significant decrease in your magical strength and reserves. I will accompany you to St Mungo's and retrieve the memories of all events we discussed while you are being seen by the mediwitch or wizard." Feeling a lot more worried over his health and magic than an hour ago Harry readily agreed before remembering the Dursleys.

"What about the Dursleys? My chores? My uncle will be very angry if I do not complete my chores." Amelia could not believe the boy would willingly risk his magic because of his fear for his uncle.

"Do not worry about the Dursleys Harry. Leave those people to us." Seeing the predatory glare shared between the three agents Harry did not want to ask what plans they had for the muggle couple.

Harry only packed his wand and most prized items, like his parents photo album and his school supplies, as he followed the aurors out of his childhood home and into a whole new life.


	5. Chapter 4

Amelia, flanked by her two aurors and Harry Potter under a disillusionment charm entered St Mungo's Hospital with an aura of determination around her. It was clear to visitor and staff alike not to interrupt the three law enforcement agents in their current states.

Approaching a witch seated behind a desk on the second floor of the hospital, Amelia stated firmly. "Please tell chief medi wizard Grahams that Amelia Bones is here to see him, it is an urgent matter."

Turning to Shacklebolt on her left she said, "Go to the Ministry and get Alastor, Robards and Croaker in my office. Tell them nothing of today's events but make sure they realize it is important."

"Jones, you remain with me." Even though the words were aimed at the female auror, her eyes swiftly went to where she knew Harry would be standing, indicating that the boy should remain with her as well.

"On it boss," was the reply from both subordinates as Kingsley went to do as ordered. Turning back to the desk Amelia saw the chief medi wizard hurrying towards them.

"Chief Grahams, I have a sensitive case that will require your best and most trusted healers to assist us." Clearly intrigued the wizard asked for two medi witches to join them whilst guiding the visitors to an isolated room.

Once ensuring the room was empty and casting a number of strong privacy charms Amelia cast a silent finite at where she knew Harry was standing. The appearance of the young saviour of the wizarding world was apparently not what the medi wizard and witches were expecting.

"Harry Potter? Amelia, just what is going on here?" Chief Medi Wizard Grahams could not quite keep the incredulous tone from seeping through.

"Grahams, Mister Potter here has told me a number of incredible things during the last few hours. I need him to undergo a full checkup, including analysis of blood, magical energy levels, possible blocks and anything you can think of. I will let Harry inform you of anything he deems necessary, but do not want his words to influence your assessment, so will ask that you only ask questions once you have completed your initial assessment."

Now fully intrigued and slightly vexed at the DMLE head for ordering him around the medi wizard turned to the young man, "well hop onto the plinth and let's see what your body and magic wants to tell me." This was said with a slight smile, Grahams may have been vexed at Amelia, but he would not let it show to the young man that appeared quite reluctant to be in his presence.

"I will be at the ministry, investigating a number of allegations brought forth today, I understand the bond of secrecy between medi wizard and patient, but would appreciate a full report on anything you deem necessary to be investigated by my department." Receiving a nod in return Amelia swiftly made her way from the room, leaving Auror Jones outside the door as an extra measure of protection.

"I do not believe anybody will bother you today or tomorrow, but in case word spreads that Mister Potter is in there, I need you to keep those that are not authorized by myself or Grahams out of that room. I will send relief by the end of the day, you will be working in shifts to protect that young man until this whole mess is sorted." Amelia gave the younger auror a serious look before leaving towards the ministry.

Meanwhile, inside the hospital room Grahams had just started his assessment. He first asked for a sample of blood that would be analysed after the initial assessment.

"This first spell will determine your current magical reserves, as the assessment may require a lot of physical and magical energy I need to determine your current levels to ensure I don't inadvertently cause magical exhaustion."

The medi wizard could see the young man wanted to say something, but then seemed to think the better of it and shook his head silently.

"This can't be right... How can... Mister Potter have you been doing any magic during the holidays?" Grahams could not understand the readings he was getting.

"No sir, the last spells I performed was at school last week. I've been at my muggle family's house since then." Grahams could see the sincerity in the younger man's eyes and hear the truth in his voice.

"Mister Potter, these results indicate your magical reserves to be at only 10.9 percent, and somehow dropping. The only way that can happen is after a catastrophic level of magical exhaustion. Did you experiment with any spells you shouldn't have at school?" It was the only explanation he could think of. It happened rarely and usually within the first year at Hogwarts, but sometimes kids would attempt spells that were too advanced, and end up in the hospital with slight magical exhaustion. However, he could not recall ever seeing a case as bad as the young man's.

The man sensed a certain amount of trepidation in the boy so tried to calm himself as much as possible before speaking again.

"Mister Potter, you are still young and learning, if you tried a spell that was too advanced it could have caused serious damage, but you will learn from that and will hopefully not do it again. You will not be in any trouble. I just need you to be honest with me about what you have done." Grahams could see his words had penetrated through the boy's fears and he let go of a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Uhm, well Director Bones said I may be suffering from magical exhaustion. Uhm, I have been feeling very tired and lethargic. She thought it was because of my Patronus." The last part was said in a rush.

"PATRONUS!" Seeing the boy flinching away from him Graham again took deep breaths to calm himself.

"Those blasted dementors! I cannot understand why the ministry thought taking those, those DEMONS to a school filled with vulnerable children could ever be a good..." Seeing the boy retreating even further from him and receiving a glare from one of the medi witches that had been watching the exchange in silence, Grahams reeled himself in before his rant could continue.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that Mister Potter. I've had multiple conversations with the ministry about those foul creatures..." Grahams was glad to see that the boy had stopped retreating and was now looking at him curiously.

"Please excuse my interruption, what did you mean by your patronus, did you attempt to cast the patronus charm? That could explain it, it is a very advanced spell and can be quite draining." Looking at the young man, Grahams could see he had calmed down significantly and appeared to be sorting through his thoughts before replying.

"I've been learning the spell with the help of our defense professor throughout the year." Grahams was surprised by this. Not only did the boy admit to taking a long time to learn the advanced spell, but apparently he had the help of a teacher. Something more must have happened.

"Uhm, dementors affect me really badly, I fainted the first time one got close to me, so I asked professor Lupin to help me learn how to fight it. My boggart is a dementor so I practiced against that."

It was clear the boy was battling to determine what to say, so Grahams patted him on the shoulder as a show of support. It was clear the two medi witches were listening intently as well.

"It was just before the end of term when a lot of dementors attacked me and..." Here Harry stopped suddenly as if only now realising what he was saying, or whom he was talking to.

"Uhm, they attacked me and a friend. They would have sucked out my friend's soul so I had to do something. I cast my patronus. It was so difficult. I had never felt something like it. It was beautiful, and light and majestic, but I was just so tired. It fought of all the dementors and then we went back to the castle." Harry knew it wasn't the complete truth, but it was close enough that the healers would get an idea of what had happened.

The three healers stared at him in something akin to horror and awe.

"Mr Potter, are you telling me you were able to cast a corporeal patronus that chased away more than one dementor? What happened then? What did Madam Pomfrey say?" At this, Harry looked at the man bizarrely.

"Uhm, I don't think she knew. Professor Dumbledore just said that we had to go to our rooms. I did not go to see Madam Pomfrey." The boy looked quite confused at even the thought of going to see the witch for what he seemed to think was just some tiredness after casting a difficult charm.

"He did what?!" Grahams was close to apoplectic.

"Uhm, Sir? What is wrong? Why should I have seen the school healer?" Harry was quite confused by now. He understood he probably suffered from magical exhaustion, but did not understand why it seemed the healers thought the headmaster should have noticed it.

"Mister Potter, the patronus charm is one of the most difficult charms to master. Most adult witches and wizards can produce some mist, and quite a few can even produce a corporeal patronus when there are no dementors around. It is difficult, but will not drain your magic too much when there is nothing for it to fight. You can even use it to send a message without too much strain." Grahams could see he had the boy's full attention so continued on. It seemed he even had the two witches listening in rapt attention.

"The Patronus is however the most draining charm currently in existence when cast against a dementor. Yes, even more draining than casting the cruciatus curse." The last was said to the two witches.

"The reason for this is that the corporeal patronus requires the magic of the caster to determine it's size and the direction it must go. The dementors drains this magic from the Patronus and if the caster does not have enough magic it overpowers the Patronus and will then target the person that had cast the charm. If the magic of the caster is stronger than the dementor, the demon will flee. This is why it is extremely rare for even strong adult wizards and witches to fight of more than one or two dementors at once. How many dementors were attacking you mister Potter?" Harry could not believe what he was hearing. Was it truly such a feat to fight a dementor?

"I am not certain sir. I did not count them." The last was said with a slight hint of humour.

"It was definitely more than fifty, probably around a hundred or so." That statement was said without any pride or ego, simply a statement of fact.

"A hundred... A hundred fucking dementors! Are you sure mister Potter? You are absolutely certain it wasn't just two or three and your mind playing tricks on you?" This was said by the quiet medi witch on Grahams' right and seemed to anger the young man quite a bit.

"Like I said, I did not count. But definitely in the region of a hundred." His voice was steely and it was clear he resented the fact that the witch doubted his word. She seemed to notice this, and retreated towards a corner of the room after Grahams sent her a scathing look.

"Please forgive my colleague, Mister Potter, it is just that there has been no recorded case of a single witch or wizard surviving the strain of fighting off more than ten dementors. In one case, a wizard fought of twelve of the demons but perished two days later due to the strain it had put on his body and magic."

Grahams took a deep breath as he tried to calm his raging thoughts and worries. The boy had survived this long, they could get him through this. At this point he wouldn't have even been surprised if the boy was able to survive without medical assistance, however the damage that that would have caused his magical core could have been irreparable. Sighing slightly, Grahams continued with his explanation.

"It is due to that strain on your magical core that Headmaster Dumbledore should have immediately sent you here to St Mungo's, or at the very least to Pomfrey who would undoubtedly have sent you here upon initial examination. Magical exhaustion and core drainage can cause irreparable harm to your magical as well as physical strength. Since I have treated Dumbledore for core drainage due to a Patronus/Dementor fight, he should have known the importance of getting you to a healer immediately!" Once again Grahams was fuming, but tried to hide it from the younger man.

"We'll start you on a strict potions regime that will assist your core in replenishing your magical reserves. Unfortunately I cannot risk your magic with a full assessment at this point in time, it could cause unmentionable harm to your magic if we were to use any more of your reserves at this point in time." If anything, that statement seemed to cheer the boy up slightly. It seemed he was not looking forward to the healer's assessment, and welcomed the reprieve his magical exhaustion had caused.

"In the meantime I shall start analysis of your blood, I am fairly certain Amelia would not have mentioned a blood analysis if she did not think I would find something of interest." Looking at the boy he could see that he was very tired at that point.

"You will take the first of the needed potions immediately, and then you must sleep. What your body needs now is rest and time to recuperate. I am amazed you are even able to walk with how low your reserves are." Transfiguring the plinth into a soft single bed, Grahams helped the boy to get comfortable and handed him the needed potion. One of the witches had gone to fetch it during the last part of the conversation.

Seeing that the young man had drunk the potion without complaint Grahams asked Healer Tubbins to stay with the boy whilst he went to his lab to start the blood analysis. It seemed to him there was a lot more going on here than a single case of magical exhaustion. He was certain Amelia would not have asked for him specifically had there not been more to it. He still didn't quite believe that the boy had bested as many dementors as he claimed, but it was clear that he had cast the charm and it had drained him of most of his reserves. What Albus Dumbledore could possibly have been thinking to allow the boy to go home without the healer checking on him, Grahams had no idea, but clearly there were many things afoot. Things that Grahams was starting to believe would be causing a shift in the foundation of magical Britain within the next few weeks.

Entering his lab, Grahams took the vial of blood and dripped a couple of drops on a special piece of parchment. The words appearing on said parchment left the healer reeling.

There was no explanation he could think of that could explain how a fourteen year old boy could possibly have come across situations that would leave traces of not only basilisk venom but also phoenix tears in his blood. It seemed there were many things still to be discovered about the enigma that was the boy-who-lived.

 _A/N: Thank you to all reviews. I appreciate each of them. My apologies for the delay in getting this update out. The chapter took a life of it's own. It seems the story will be a bit longer than I initially thought. Basic outline now indicates it will end up being seven chapters with an epilogue. I also apologise for not responding to reviews, time just does not allow it at this point. I hope to respond to all reviews within next week. Kind regards. Alta._


	6. Chapter 5

Amelia Bones was a woman on a mission. Less than 50 hours had passed since her entire worldview was changed by the arrival of a single letter by the young boy hero Harry Potter. In said time period she had learned that a man she had mentored in his youth had in fact been innocent of the crimes he had been accused of and incarcerated for.

Amelia had also learned that Hogwarts, a school long thought to be amongst the best and safest in the world, had in fact played host to multiple murderers, illegal artifacts and more during the last few years. As she entered the Ministry of Magic's building, she sent a messenger Patronus to Shacklebolt to ensure he had been able to gather those she had requested him to get together.

She also realised that she had left the hospital and young Harry before she had been able to get the memories they had been discussing, and knew another trip to the hospital would be in her very near future.

Entering her office she looked around, took a deep breath and started mentally sorting through all that needed to be investigated within the next few weeks. First and foremost was definitely the Sirius Black case, and she knew she would need her best and brightest on that case, thus she would ask Shacklebolt and Robards to head that investigation.

The second thing that would need to be investigated was the evidence of the attempted resurrection of Lord Voldemort as well as his history and the lies he and others had spread about his heritage, this would be fronted by Alastor and Jones with assistance from Croaker as needed (she was fairly certain the head unspeakable would get himself involved in the investigation in any case, so would rather have his involvement checked and sanctioned).

Amelia herself would be fronting the investigation into the apparently deadly things that had been going on at Hogwarts during the past number of years. She realised she would have to tread lightly to keep certain people, read Dumbledore, from finding out about her investigation until she was ready to face him. There was a definite chance that Hogwarts would be facing many changes within the next few months, and that caused a certain amount of exhiliration for the woman. She had not been able to get much info from her young niece about her schooling the last few years (that alone should have sent up warning bells), and Amelia was slightly afraid of what else she may find.

Finally, she would need to appoint somebody to head an investigation into young Harry's placement with his muggle relatives, as well as the possibility of abuse in said home.

A knock on her door interrupted these contemplations and she called for those on the other side to enter.

Shacklebolt looked ready to fight, which made sense considering he had already heard most of what they were dealing with. Robards looked interested and worried, realizing that this was no social call. Alastor did not show any apparent emotions, although Amelia could see a hint of enquiry in his expression. Croaker, surprisingly, was the most obvious in his expressions. Curiosity clear to see in his features. She assumed it made sense. It was very rare for the Aurors to call on Unspeakable help.

"I have asked you all here to assist me in heading up a number of investigations that have been brought to light. Most of these will overlap in some form, and as such I will brief you on all the investigations that I am sanctioning, even if you are not directly involved.

"It has come to light that Sirius Black is very likely innocent of all the charges he has been accused of. Kingsley and Robards, I need you to investigate the matter fully. Start with the lack of trial record, lack of evidence collected on the night of the apparent murder of Peter Pettigrew and the murders of the muggles. As soon as I have received certain memories that should explain the details of what had happened I will give these to you as well, but I need you to start the investigation from our side. Also, see if you can get hold of Arthur Weasley and speak with him about a rat that has been in their possession for the last ten years."

It was clear that all those who were not yet in the know, were very surprised by these words.

"We'll be on it Ma'am" was all that was said by Kingsley, and acknowledged with a nod by Amelia.

"Secondly, it appears the man known as Lord Voldemort has made multiple attempts at returning to full strength over the last few years..." Amelia was about to continue when Croaker piped up

"Returning to strength? So it is true, he is not dead." Amelia nodded before continuing.

"Indeed, from what I understand he is currently in a spirit or wraith form, I am uncertain how this can be, and that will be part of your investigation. It appears Lord Voldemort possessed one Quirinus Quirrell during the 1991/1992 school year before being driven out by a first year student." Amelia saw that Croaker was looking to interrupt again, and as such raised her hand to stop him speaking.

"I will get you the memories Saul. In 1992/1993 the man known as Lord Voldemort once again attempted a return of sorts. It appears a Diary from his youth, with some form of his spirit or soul attached to it, possessed a young first year student at Hogwarts and opened the legendary Chamber of Secrets. This spirit of his then commanded the basilisk in said chamber to attack students and attempted to use the young first year's life blood to return to a body." This time Amelia allowed Saul to raise his questions.

"A piece of his soul or spirit in a diary? And you say it possessed this child? I wonder... Do you have access to this diary? How was he stopped, or did his apparent ritual fail?"

It was clear the head unspeakable had some idea of what Voldemort had done, and Amelia would hopefully be receiving a lot more information on what was happening with the Dark Lord and how he had survived his apparent death.

"I do not have access to the diary, but will find out from my source if he can get it in some way. The diary was destroyed by a basilisk fang, which in turn stopped this spirit and its leach on the girl's life force."

This seemed to intrigue the old unspeakable even more and Amelia could almost see the wheels turning.

"Ah... Basilisk venom. That may just do it. But for it to possess the child... Oh, yes, yes that could be it. That could be it..." Saul's murmurs seemed to fade away, and it was clear to all in the room that the old man was dying to investigate his theories.

"I see you have a theory Saul, that is good. I need you to focus on that part of the investigation. I need to know how that mad man survived, and how we can stop any further attempts of his return." A nod followed this statement, and Amelia continued.

"To hopefully assist you in that task, I can inform you that I have it on good authority that the man known as Voldemort was born one Tom Marvolo Riddle. A halfblood son of a rich muggle named Tom Riddle and a witch named Merope Gaunt. I am of the belief that researching his history may lead to more information with regards to his thwarting of death."

Both Alastor and Saul looked like Christmas had come early. The history of Voldemort was something the Unspeakables and Aurors had long been investigating, but they had thus far not been able to uncover his true identity.

"I will also require somebody to investigate the placement of Harry Potter with his muggle relatives, as well as his treatment in their... care." She could barely keep the snarl from forming on the last word. Seeing the looks she received from the rest it was clear that her true meaning was understood.

Alastor Moody was not a man to be trifled with, and most people would not believe he had ever cared for anything except justice and the law. They would be wrong. The seasoned auror had taken a young James Potter under his wing and had truly cared for the younger man. If there was a chance that the child of his protégé had been abused, there would be hell to pay.

This led him to making a suggestion on that last point.

"Amelia, I would suggest you get young Nymphadora to investigate them, she is young, but if I recall she is distantly related to the lad, and she has a fiery passion to stop any child from being hurt. Must be that Hufflepuff loyalty."

That seemed like a good idea to Amelia as well, she liked the Junior Auror, and could see a long and fruitful career in her future. Inclining her head to show she agreed with the man's plan, she continued.

"I will contact young Tonks and give her the mission when we are done here. The final investigation, which I will be heading, will overlap with most of the missions I have assigned you all." It was clear that Moody and Robards were very interested in what she had to say. After all, it was quite rare for the Director of the DMLE to head an investigation. She would usually get one of her seasoned aurors to front an operation and assist in guiding the operation from the side.

"I will be investigating allegations of gross neglect, abuse, willful endangerment of children, and whatever else I can find, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The others, except Kingsley who looked at her with righteous anger at the situation that had been explained to them earlier that day, looked at her as if she had grown an extra head.

Again it was Moody who raised his thoughts first.

"I know you will not waste your time investigating frivolous claims director, so I can only assume you believe these allegations to be true, and that you will find evidence to support the claims." Not even waiting for a response the man continued.

"You will have my full support in your investigation. If there is any chance Albus and those merry men and women of his has been hurting our kids I will take them down with my own wand." The rest seemed to agree with the scarred man and nodded their heads to indicate such.

"Good to know Alastor. Now each of you have your tasks, keep me updated on your progress, and I should have those memories I spoke about before the end of the day." Receiving nods in return Amelia dismissed the others and sat back in her chair, feeling oddly spent. Yes, these were going to be long trying days ahead of them.

...

Amelia had spent the first few hours reviewing her own memories of all Harry had told her, as well as making notes on all she deemed important enough to investigate. That done, she decided to take a short lunch break, in which she would be making two stops. First would be at Bones Manor with Susan, to discuss some of the things she had uncovered, the second would be at the hospital, where she would hopefully get those memories she so desperately needed.

The other Aurors had not yet reported any new information, and as such she assumed they were still busy with their own initial investigations and fact finding interviews. They were well trained, as such Amelia knew they would only come to her once they had new information or irrevertible proof of the information she had shared.

She had also contacted young Tonks and had given her a brief overview of what she needed to investigate. She had handed the younger lady the will she had unsealed as well as the address of the Dursleys and sent her away to investigate the matters further. To say the junior Auror was angered about the implications of abuse in said home would be an understatement.

It was clear the younger Auror wanted to immediately apparate to said address and hurt the muggles within, but her training took over and Amelia could see how she reigned in her temper before simply inclining her head and leaving the room to investigate the matters they had discussed.

Amelia had then finished her notes and retrieved her bag before heading to Bones Manor where she would have lunch with her ward.

At the manor Amelia refrained from raising the myriad of questions that plagued her until Susan had finished her avocado and egg salad. Once they had both finished their respective lunches she poured herself a glass of wine and gave her niece a butterbeer before reclining in her chair, pondering what the easiest way would be for her to raise the topics she needed to discuss.

"Susie, is there anything about your years at Hogwarts you would like to discuss with me?" She decided to attempt to let her niece guide the conversation, hoping that she could steer her to the details she needed.

The niece in question looked slightly taken aback by the query and seemed to realize her aunt was asking out of more than just simple curiosity. As such, she took some time to contemplate her answer.

"I am uncertain what exactly aunty is alluding to. There is much I have spoken to you about my schooling, you know my grades and how I feel about certain professors..." She did not need to name Snape, Binns or Lockhart, as she had complained about all of them at different times in her letters home.

"However, I guess there are some things I don't understand that has happened, especially in our first and second years." With that it was as if a floodgate had opened. It was like the younger girl had just waited for someone, anyone to ask her about those events, and thus the questions and statements started to flow.

She touched on a lot of things Harry had touched on, although it was clear she did not know how most of those things had been resolved. She spoke of a troll during Halloween, points unfairly given at the end of first and second year, classmates being petrified, teachers giving unfair detentions and kids being absolute terrors without any adult intervening. Professors seemingly disappearing at the end of the school year without explanation and more.

She mentioned the effect the dementors had had on all of them during the last year, and how they had attacked a fellow student during a quidditch match. It seemed as though the more she spoke the more comfortable she became. If Amelia wasn't certain that the bracelet her niece always wore would protect her from most mind altering magics and potions, she would have thought the girl was confunded not to speak of the subjects until directly questioned.

The possibility still existed that there was a magical reason for her apparent reticence to discuss these topics until confronted with them, but it was also possible she had just never considered it strange enough to mention until she thought of everything happening in its entirety. With enough time between the incidents it was entirely possible she had just thought of everything as slightly strange but benign happenings.

Once she had finished recounting the matters and Amelia had asked for further explanations on a couple of points she looked at her aunt with something akin to horror.

"Looking back on all that now, that is not normal is it aunty? What is going on? What has been happening at my school?"

Amelia gave her a serious but loving look.

"You are correct Susie. It is not normal, and it seems much has been afoot. Do not fret, I am investigating and will not let you or any other student return to that school without knowing it is completely safe to do so."

"I only have a couple of other questions Susie, and I need you to be completely honest with me." Susan gave her aunt a look that clearly stated she would never dream of lying to the older woman.

"I know you would not willingly lie to me, but these questions may put your own behaviour in a bad light. Do not fear, I will try my best not to get angry, but I need your word that you will tell me everything you know about what I am about to ask you." Susan could only nod in agreement, now quite afraid of what her aunt may want to discuss.

"It has come to my attention that many of your year mates maliciously bullied a fellow student during your second year. What do you know of said bullying, and why was I not informed?"

Susan felt as if she had been hit by a bludger. Her action, or inaction as the case may have been, during the entire heir of Slytherin saga had weighed heavily on her mind.

"You're speaking of Harry Potter, right?" With that question it was as if a new floodgate had opened. Susan spoke about how her classmates had vilified the young man. Yelling obscenities at him, locking away his possessions when possible, some even hexing him in the corridors. She had not joined in with them, but had not stood up for him either, fearing that she would be targeted if she spoke up in his defense.

She explained to her aunt how it seemed as if the young Gryffindor had quickly lost the will to fight and had resigned himself to his classmates vicious actions.

Amelia listened intently, and noted both what the girl said, and did not say. It was obvious the younger girl had been affected by the incident. Susan had always believed in truth and justice as well as standing up for the downtrodden. It was clear she was disappointed in herself for not standing up to the bullies. The older woman worked hard not show her own disappointment in her niece, realizing the power of peer pressure and that her niece did not need her disappointment on top her own feelings of inadequacy.

"Thank you for your honest retelling of the events. I am sure you realize that should something like that ever happen again, I expect you to assist the victim and inform me immediately." Susan wrapped her aunt in a hug nodding her head in agreement.

"Now, the last thing I need to speak to you about is a very sensitive issue, and I need you to promise that you will not speak of it with any of your friends." Susan had already decided she would not mention this conversation to anybody, knowing that her aunt would be contacting those that could help them get the necessary answers on her own.

She quickly agreed to the condition, wondering what else her aunt wanted to know.

"Can you tell me everything you know about Harry Potter's home life? I need you to think clearly about anything he or his friends may have mentioned. Any signs you may have noticed that things may be not quite normal at his home?" Amelia had to be careful, she did not want to lead her niece to incorrect conclusions or speculations. She only needed to hear what her niece knew about the young boys' home life.

Susan was very surprised by the question, and her initial reaction was to deny knowing anything about his home life, however she thought about the questions in more detail. Trying to recall anything the other boy may have said during the few times they spoke with each other.

She recalled him mentioning his relatives hated magic. She could remember him taunting his bullies about a whale of a cousin that, even as a muggle, had hurt him far worse than they had done. Then she thought about how skinny he always looked at the start of the schoolyear and how his regular clothing hung from him like oversized rags.

Mentioning all these observations to her aunt she could see that her aunt was not surprised, and had in fact expected as much.

Recalling her promise not to speak about the conversation, she politely excused herself and went up to her room. Flopping herself down on her bed she was not surprised to realize there were silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

That day Susan Bones came to a startling realization. She had overlooked a neglected, possibly abused, young boy and had not even had the courage to stand up to those that tried to make his life even worse than it had already been.

It would be a while before she realized it, but that day, and that conversation would lead to her changing her career plans from becoming an Auror to a healer who would specialize in pediatrics. It would also be the catalyst in starting a friendship that would last a lifetime.


	7. Chapter 6

It was with some confusion that Harry awoke on a soft and comfortable bed, needing a couple of minutes to recall where he was and why he was there.

He was about to take out his wand and cast a tempus charm when he remembered that A. he was not allowed to do magic outside of school and B. the healer had mentioned that he would not be allowed to do any magic for some time due to the drainage on his magical core.

Recalling all that had been said he shuddered to think what would have happened to his magical strength if he had not been forced to come to the hospital. He did not understand why Dumbledore didn't send him to madam Pomfrey. Maybe he did not realize that Harry had sent his Patronus after so many dementors? Although, that did not quite compute. The man had known the dementors had attacked him and Sirius before being sent away by a patronus, and he had been the one to send them back in time, he had to have known it was Harry's Patronus, right?

He was mulling over these thoughts when the healer that had been in his room since the start of the initial assessment seemed to notice he was awake.

"Ah, you are awake Mr Potter? I would have thought the potion would keep you asleep for some time yet. No worries, no worries, this just means we can get some food in you. What do you want for lunch?" All of that was said in one breath, and Harry couldn't help but look at the small-statured middle aged witch in awe.

"Uhm. Anything is fine by me Ma'am. Thank you so much." Harry was surprised by how hungry he felt, but then realized he had not had any dinner the previous day, and his hope for some breakfast that morning had been interrupted by the arrival of Madam Bones.

"Splendid, Mopsy! Please bring young Mr Potter here a light lunch, make sure it is filled with plenty of proteins and good fats. He could definitely benefit from some muscles on that body of his." Harry could only blush at that, knowing that his small and scrawny stature was mostly due to his malnourishment at the Dursleys.

Without a word the young house elf that had arrived when her name was called disappeared, only to reappear within seconds with a plate filled with cold meats, sandwiches and boiled eggs.

Harry dug in with fervence and barely noticed the arrival of another person in his room.

He was almost finished with inhaling his plate of food when he finally noticed the slightly amused face of Amelia Bones staring at him, seemingly waiting for him to finish his meal before discussing the day's events.

"Ah, Madam Bones. My apologies, I did not see you there. Have you had lunch, can I ask Mopsy to bring you something?" Amelia was fairly certain the house elf would not be able to bring food to a guest on request of a patient, but refrained from mentioning that.

"No problems Harry, and I thank you for the offer, but I have just had a lovely lunch with my niece. Please finish your food then we can continue our chat from this morning."

Harry gave the lady a shy smile, before finishing his delicious meal with some haste.

Sensing that he had finished his meal, a house elf popped in to remove his plate, before popping out in silence. Amelia indicated to both her Auror and the healer that she required privacy, and the two ladies exited the room to stand guard outside.

"Harry, I would like to discuss with you the investigations I have already started, and the memories I will require from you to aid in our investigations." That said, Amelia gave Harry a brief overview of what she had discussed with her aurors.

Harry was left feeling gobsmacked by all the Director had been able to accomplish in a couple of hours, and said as much.

"When you know justice has been circumvented and innocents are suffering, you attempt to get to the truth in as timely a manner as possible Harry."

Harry fully agreed with the sentiment, but had sadly never met an adult who agreed with such. Never before had he had reason to trust an adult, as they had all either hurt him or ignored his issues. Even his professors had said they were unable to aid him in freeing Sirius, not to mention their inability to keep the school and its children safe.

"Now I will require memories of all the moments you deem important to any of those investigations. I realize you do not wish to speak about your relatives treatment of you, but we will need memories to ensure you never return there again."

Harry did not know how he felt about that. On the one hand he fully agreed that he never wanted to go back to his aunt and uncle, but he was still afraid and slightly embarrassed about the truth of his upbringing coming out.

Nodding resolutely he started to think about which memories would be needed.

"I will also need the initial report from the healer, I am certain it will corroborate quite a number of your memories." Amelia was quite surprised when the young man sheepishly looked down upon hearing that.

"What is it Harry? Did they find something unsuspecting in the assessment?" Amelia had a number of suspicions about what could possibly be found, and as such would not be surprised if that was the reason for his strange behavior.

"Not exactly, they have not yet done the initial assessment. Apparently my magical reserves and core levels were too low." The young man looked at her with something akin to guilt on his face.

"What? How low... Wait, don't answer that, I have no right nor need to know that. It is not your fault Harry, it is the fault of those that should have gotten you to a competent healer the moment you were exposed to those demons."

Amelia was visibly shaking with rage. She had an idea how low his reserves had to have been for the healer to call a halt on his assessment. She knew anything below 20% meant no magic performed by or on the patient, having reached that point of magical exhaustion once before in her life, on the night of her whole family's massacre. She had reached a level so low, they had to force her to sleep, to keep her from returning to the battle and using more magic on the evil bastards that had killed her siblings and parents, and who had almost succeeded in killing her baby niece.

For Harry to have reached a point where his magical reserves were below 20% it meant he had to have had an unimaginable drain on his magic, and that he had received no potions to stop the drain or repair the damage that had been done.

There would be hell to pay! Had that young man not sent her the letter, he would have spent months untreated, in the muggle world. The possibility that he could have slipped into a coma and passed away was very real. Even if that had not been the result of such willful negligence, there was no doubt in her mind that he would have suffered irreparable core damage. Damage that would have kept him from ever reaching his full potential, it may have even left him with just enough magic to survive, leaving him in effect a squib.

"Uhm, Madam Bones, are you okay?" The soft question from the young man in question was finally able to break through her thought processes.

Seeing the care and worry in the boy's face Amelia could not imagine how anybody could willfully or even ignorantly cause him such damage.

"I am fine Harry, just realizing once again how much damage certain individuals have caused." There was no doubt in either mind as to who those individuals were. Harry still could not imagine his headmaster deliberately hurting him, but the evidence was stacking up.

"I just thought of something Director. Will I be able to give you the memories? With the restrictions the healer has placed on my magic?"

Amelia had to think about the question before answering.

"I am not completely certain. I do not think collecting memories have any effect on your magic, as we are even able to collect memories from muggles, but it will be safest to ask Healer Grahams before we continue." That said, she indicated the healer outside the door to re-enter the room, and then requested her to ask Healer Grahams about the safety of gathering memories at that time.

The healer in question returned within minutes, informing them that the chief healer had agreed to having the memories collected, as long as a healer was present throughout to monitor Harry's condition.

Consent given, Amelia explained the process of gathering memories, and over the next two hours more than a dozen vials were filled and labeled with memories ranging from the age of four until those from his last school year.

Giving both written and verbal consent, Harry agreed to let Amelia show the memories to the appropriate investigators. Remembering the blood that had been taken, and assuming it may lead to certain questions, he also allowed the Director to show the chief medi wizard the memories of his second year as well as his encounter with the de mentors. He only had one condition, that the medi wizard should make an oath not to discuss the content of said memories with anybody not cleared to investigate the relevant matters.

Amelia fully agreed with those conditions and after saying her goodbyes to those in the room, went in search of Healer Grahams. It would be best to show him the appropriate memories before they were distributed between the different investigators.

Finding the man in his office, he swiftly gave the needed oaths, before summoning a pensieve that was usually used to aid the mind healers. Looking closely at the labels, Amelia removed the string of memories that was labeled "Chamber of Secrets" and deposited the memories in the artifact.

Before entering the pensieve she asked the healer if there had been anything of note in Harry's blood results. Giving her a wry look, clearly stating 'what do you think?' she simply smirked and informed him that these memories should clear up some of his questions.

They entered the pensieve at the same time, and both had to take a moment to orientate themselves with where they were.

Healer Grahams focussed on the young pre-teens in the memory, making notes as the memory continued. They would need to contact the parents of the young witch that had been possessed. There was no way she could have received treatment in the hospital for the psychological and physical effects of the possession, not to mention the physical drain this Tom Riddle had placed on her, without the chief mediwizard knowing about the treatment.

Seeing the boy, that he knew was currently safely (if not completely healthy) lying in his hospital bed be bitten by the 60 foot monster, venom slowly stealing away his life, he found himself unconsciously gripping the hand of Director Bones next to him. Distantly he noted that she did nothing other than tightening the grip.

Seeing the Phoenix giving those precious tears, saving the young hero's life in the process he dimly registered that the Director had been right, many questions had been answered. Although, they raised a fair number of new questions in him, that may prove harder to answer.

Exiting the memory, distantly realizing that he now knew more about the terror that had almost taken over their world than almost anybody else in existence, the healer took a few steadying breaths before turning to the lady next to him.

He was pleased to note that she looked almost as shaken as he felt.

"How? How is it that nobody knows about that happening? Where did that young girl, and the young hero for that matter, receive the needed treatment after that fucking mess, because they most definitely did not receive any treatment here."

Amelia looked slightly shocked at the vulgar language, but could not blame the man. Truthfully, she also felt like swearing at every adult that had so failed the kids in their care.

"I know Harry did not receive any treatment, according to his own words, I can only assume young miss Weasley has been similarly _overlooked_." The last word said in such a manner that it was clear she blamed every single person that knew about the mess for 'overlooking' the needed care of the two kids most affected by said mess.

"I assumed as much, but was hoping that I had been incorrect in my assumptions. Am I correct in assuming you will be investigating this matter? And that any and all who let that monster get so close to killing not only those two children, but a castle full of them as well, will be brought to justice?" Grahams still felt as if his whole life had been turned on its axis. This was a gross miscarriage of justice as well as child neglect and endangerment to a degree he had never before seen from any person in such high position of authority.

Amelia's answer was almost feral in tone.

"Oh believe me, they will pay, every single one of them will pay."

...

 ** _A/N_**

 ** _I decided to conclude the chapter here, in effect breaking my planned chapter 6 into two different chapters as it was getting too long, and I liked stopping it on a slightly ominous tone. As such the outline now consists of 8 chapters plus an epilogue. Sorry for increasing the length once again. I will not be surprised if Chapter 8 will also end up being subdivided, but we will see..._**

 ** _Thank you to everyone for the continued support, every view, favorite, follow and review is very much appreciated._**

 ** _Kind regards._**

 ** _Alta_**


End file.
